Maharashtra Environment and Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray on Tuesday met Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw at Rail Bhavan in Delhi. Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi was also present during the meeting.
After the meeting, Thackeray said they had discussion on National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) that has been introduced for BEST buses & metro stations in the country. He said they have requested the Railways Minister to expedite process of integrating railways in Mumbai under the NCMC.
Earlier on Monday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray launched the National Common Mobility Card, that will be valid for all modes of transport travel or purchases across the country and not just in the city’s red buses. With the launch of this system, Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking became the first bus transport undertaking in the country to get the pan India card system.
“This is a RuPay debit card, which is valid at most NCMC-compliant establishments across the country. One can top it up online or with our bus conductor and this will be part of One Card One Nation,” said BEST general manager Lokesh Chandra.
"The card will be valid for any travel or purchases pan-India. One can also purchase groceries, buy from a retail showroom, and use it as a debit card across the country," he said.
After launching the NCMC, Uddhav Thackeray said that BEST has decided to provide concessions for private schools students too. Under this plan, students up to the 5th standard of private schools will get monthly recharge up to Rs 200 free of cost from the coming session. Apart from that, students up to the 12th standard of private institutions will get a monthly recharge of Rs 250 of newly launched NCMC free of cost.
